This is a very, very simple idea, but since the forum's been kind of silent lately, I thought it might stir up some interesting conversation. I'll name a band/artist, then, whoever posts next has to say whether they like it or not. But no "Yes./No." responses allowed. You have to motivate your answer* and after that, name a new band for the next person.

*If the band in question is among your very favourites, feel free to ramble on and on about how it changed your life or something like that. It'll only make the topic much more interesting.

nimrod

Im not keen, well ok, I dont like them, theyre too wishy washy for me, songs like 'turn turn turn' and Tambourine Man for me are boring and a lot of their stuff sounds the same, and has no balls jingly jangly ? no thanks !!

The Hollies were in the "first wave" of The British Invasion and I liked them very much for their very distinctive and beautiful vocal harmonies. Though primarily cover songs, I liked what they did early on beacause of their tight harmonies. They matured in the mid-60s and gave us a few original classic songs like Bus Stop, Stop, Stop, Stop, and Carrie Anne. I was disappointed when Graham Nash left the group. The Hollies lost their bright tenor voice with his departure and it impacted their special harmonies. I feel they floundered a bit in the late 60s and early 70s, but thankfully had major hits with Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress and The Air That I Breathe.

The Animals - Newcastle - fantastic run of r 'n' b 45s from 'Baby Let Me Take You Home' (released the same month as 'Can't Buy Me Love') through to 'Don't Bring Me Down' (in the same chart as 'Paperback Writer'). For sheer verve and emotion, the only group who out r 'n' b-ed them were.....erm.....Them.

The wheels started to come off with Alan Price's departure (Price had secured a writing credit on the 'House Of The Rising Sun' single which was resented by the rest of the group - he earned a fortune!) and he and Burden had successful solo careers, Price even staring in the truly fantastic film 'O Lucky Man' by Lindsay Anderson.

Chas Chandler managed a little known guitarist by the name of Jimi Hendrix, and went on to also manage Slade.

(Can't let The Byrds thread go without saying that 'Younger Than Yesterday' and 'Notorious Byrds Brothers' hold their own with any LP ever made, and don't even start me on 'Lady Friend'!!!!)

The Zombies truly are one of the best rock's forgotten bands. They started out mainly as a R'n'B cover group, but much like The Who, found their own voice when keyboardist Rod Argent and bassist Chris White started writing songs by themselves. Musically, Argent's jazz-influenced keyboard runs and riffs were always the main attraction, but that's not to say that lead singer's, Colin Blunstone's breathy lead vocals or those tender group vocal harmonies are any less good.

Prompted by the success of 'She's There' - one of the greatest slices of pop perfection of the 60's - the band releases Begin Here (UK)/ The Zombies (US) in 1965. Both versions of the album are all right, but most of the songs kind of pale when put next to the aforementioned She's Not There (OK, to be honest, 'Tell Her No', the band's 2nd single, is very good as well).

From then on, the band's singles fail to even enter the charts, one by one. Argent usually wrote the A-side, while White the B-side. I have all of these singles on a compilation suggestively called 'The Singles: A's and B's (2005)'. Some are great, some good, some mediocre, but the band never really released anything bad as a single, in my opinion. Is This The Dream (1966), Goin' Out of My Head (1967) and Imagine The Swan (1969) are my 3 favourites. The last in particular, is such a sad and heartbreaking harpsichord-driven story of delusion and long-lost love, that it would've fit perfectly on 'Odessey and Oracle'.

Speaking of 'Odessey and Oracle', now this is an album that truly deserves its own thread (oh wait, it actually has one). Remember how I said that The Zombies were at an all-time low commercially? Well, artistically speaking, this is a whole different story. The band kept getting better and better, with each new year. The melodies were more solid, the sounds newer, the moods different and the chart success....still only dreamt of. But that doesn't matter - now, 45 years later and few reunion albums that I've yet to listen to, O&O is regarded as an all-time masterpiece. And deservedly so. Everything comes together on this record, absolutely everything they've ever worked towards achieving. And the songs...wow, pure pop heaven. From the dreamy piano-pop of 'Hung Up On a Dream', to the harmony-explosion of 'Brief Candles', to that fragile beauty of 'A Rose For Emily' and to the shiver-sending horror imagery and power of 'Butcher's Tale'... every single song's a gem and would deserve its own paragraph.

All in all, a masterpiece of an album, but also a very sad one. Each time I listen to it, I can't help but wonder what directions might the band have taken, had it been a commercial success. Sad is the fact that they broke up before even releasing the album. What if they would've topped it? My eyes sparkle at the very thought of that.

Please don't consider this part of the link, but if the lack of response suggests a dislike/ignorance of said act, I heartily approve.If no one answers soon, I really don't mind slagging them off for a couple of hundred words!

Next.....the clash (still)

Logged

nimrod

Please don't consider this part of the link, but if the lack of response suggests a dislike/ignorance of said act, I heartily approve.If no one answers soon, I really don't mind slagging them off for a couple of hundred words!

The Clash - from a horrible and cheap (now horrible and expensive) part of London - missed the 50s and 60s - dressed like Action Men - in absolutely no danger of having a Top 10 hit until, of course, they did a complete about turn on their pompous and po-faced image, and started selling a brand of US jeans with the dire 'Should I Stay Or Should I Go?'.

Every record they ever made sounds like a demo recording - I hate over-production, but hey!, I don't mind 'some' production!

On a personal note, I have a list of football stadia in London who play 'London Calling' before each match, and I have made a mental note not to go to any of them!

In 2013 they are hugely over-rated by exactly the same people who passed on their records in the 1980s in order to buy Adam Ant, Blondie or Duran Duran.

Every record they ever made sounds like a demo recording - I hate over-production, but hey!, I don't mind 'some' production!

I only own the London Calling album by them, but not a single song on it sounds under-produced to my ears. In fact, if I recall correctly, I think I read the fact that they recorded each instrument in 'Card Cheat' twice to get a bigger, fuller sound. Just saying.

But I really love the album, and consider it to be the White Album/Exile On Main St. of the 80's, with the grab-it-all and try-everything approach. I think many a folks around here would enjoy it. Punk, rock, rockabilly, ska, raggae, ballads, humour - it's all there. Just impressive tunes really, whether or not you care about the message.

No need to be sorry. I just don't agree that "Every record they ever made sounds like a demo recording". At all. Does Lost In The Supermarket sound under-produced to you? What about The Right Profile? Guns of Brixton? Train In Vain? Rudie Can't Fail? Sorry, I just don't see/hear it. Sounds more like something that a person who never sat down to listen to any of their records properly would say. Somebody whose opinions have more to do with genre preconceptions (punk, in this case), than the music itself. Of course, I could be wrong. But so far, you haven't presented any arguments to make me believe otherwise.

No need to be sorry. I just don't agree that "Every record they ever made sounds like a demo recording". At all. Does Lost In The Supermarket sound under-produced to you? What about The Right Profile? Guns of Brixton? Train In Vain? Rudie Can't Fail? Sorry, I just don't see/hear it. Sounds more like something that a person who never sat down to listen to any of their records properly would say. Somebody whose opinions have more to do with genre preconceptions (punk, in this case), than the music itself. Of course, I could be wrong. But so far, you haven't presented any arguments to make me believe otherwise.

Are the rules of this thread that you argue with people's comments or not, ?I thought you just commented on the next band, it seems this way people will get upset if you say someone is rubbish (someone didnt like my comments on The Byrds), can you clarify please Ovi.

The Small Faces... This is a curious case for me because as a huge 60's fan I tend to like them, but they are not among my favorite bands, I could name like 40 artists of that time that I like more than them. Some music critics say that they were a second rate version of the Who, though the Small Faces were more of a Mod band than Pete & friends. I think their music is not bad, but I consider that most of their stuff is mediocre. I like some of their good classic songs like "Itchycoo Park", "Lazy Sunday" and "Tin Soldier", but for some reason I don't love them, there's something about their sound that prevent me from really enjoying them.

So, do I like the Small Faces? I would say yes, I like them. Do I think they were great? Not at all.

I loved Buffalo Springfield the first time I heard them on the radio. For What It's Worth was one of our anthems in the late 1960s. I remember wondering how they came up with their name. Then, one day in 1968, I noticed this nameplate on a steamroller doing some repaving work on a road by my school...

Cool name for a group! They didn't last long but they influenced music greatly.

Are the rules of this thread that you argue with people's comments or not, ?I thought you just commented on the next band, it seems this way people will get upset if you say someone is rubbish (someone didnt like my comments on The Byrds), can you clarify please Ovi.

Well, yeah, the main objective of this thread was to stir up some conversation, rather than everybody just answering "Yeah, I love them" and then move on. Isn't arguing more interesting?

Please don't consider this part of the link, but if the lack of response suggests a dislike/ignorance of said act, I heartily approve.If no one answers soon, I really don't mind slagging them off for a couple of hundred words!

Please don't consider this part of the link, but if the lack of response suggests a dislike/ignorance of said act, I heartily approve.If no one answers soon, I really don't mind slagging them off for a couple of hundred words!

Next.....the clash (still)

I didn't answer because I was kind of waiting for someone who knew more about them than I do to answer. I am not a big fan of this genre but the few songs that I knew caught my attention at a time (late high school and college) when I was spending all my money on 60's music. I just read the Wiki on "London Calling" and it was interesting. I think I will tap the vast powers of YouTube and see if i like anything else. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.